“Hey.” He reached for her chin, bringing Jasmine’s gaze to his. “It comes with the territory,” he said.
Jasmine locked her jaw but didn’t respond only stared worriedly back at Luke. His hard-edged face softened.
“This won’t go down the way it did last time. I promise.”
She found her tongue. “How can you promise that?”
“Because Jonathon can’t whoop me,” he joked. “Besides, I’d fight to the death for you.”
Jasmine’s heart leapt and binged off her chest. Her hand tightened around his wrists as her eyes misted over.
“That—” she stammered and groaned. Being around Luke seemed to turn her into a stuttering fool at times. She had to remind herself that she was a boss and Luke was about to become the CEO of the city. Damn right this meeting wouldn’t be the same. Jasmine blinked back the sheen in her eyes and reordered her thoughts as she cleared her throat. Her hand slipped from his wrists to his hand, her fingers linking with his.
“And I will fight right by your side,” she responded.
Luke brought her hand to his mouth. A kiss, hot and feverish, singed her skin. “Give me ten minutes, if I’m not out by then, I may need back up,” he joked.
Jasmine thought it over for a second then nodded once. Luke bent down to kiss her cheek then turned and strolled to his office. He opened the door and stepped inside and noticed Derek James Clark, his brother from another mother, was also in the room.
“Gentlemen, what do I owe the nature of this visit?”
“I’m just here in case anyone needs a lawyer,” Jordan joked.
The men chuckled, and Luke’s right brow rose a fraction. Jokes coming from Jordan were a first.
“You must be having a good day,” Luke said to Jordan.
“Indeed,” Jordan responded.
“Rose and Garnett just won its high-profile case against a pharmaceutical giant. So yeah, he’s in a good mood,” Jonas said, sitting in a custom-tailored suit that fit every ridge and bulk in his arms. He was clean. Cufflinks and a pristine belt buckle accessorized his suave appearance. As usual, his neatly groomed haircut and creamy brown skin settled into the stock corded muscle that he worked daily at the gym.
“Your campaign is on the right track, you should be proud of all you’ve accomplished before you take your rightful place as mayor.”
It was Jaden who’d spoken this time. Much like his brother Jonas, Jaden also wore a tailored suit, and his tone build was not hidden either. Luke held his hand out. “I appreciate you for saying that.”
Jaden accepted his proffered hand.
“We all knew it would happen anyway,” Jonas said.
“Well I haven’t won yet, fellas.”
“But you’re well on your way,” Jordan said.
“Thank you. I can only hope so.”
“We saw you speaking with Mayor Jenkins.”
Some of them chuckled. “Whose idea was it for you to meet him on his own territory?” Jacob asked.
“Oh, it couldn’t have been my idea?” Luke inquired.
“Nah,” Jonas said.
They laughed again. Luke nodded with a smirk.
“You’re right.” He rubbed his hands together then folded his arms. “It was Jas.”
“Touched by a Rose, huh.” Finally, Jonathon had spoken. Luke and Jonathon eyed each other. “After seeing you and Jasmine on TV today, I gathered the group of us to come over here and congratulate you on your success and also to threaten your life.” Everyone kept their stares on Luke as they were all aware of that fact. Everyone except for Derek. Derek’s brows slanted in a frown, and he scowled at Jonathon who met his confused gaze.
“You, too, Derek.”
“What the hell is this?” Derek barked.
“I just told you what this,” he motioned with his hands, “was.” Jonathon rose to his feet, his black crew neck shirt imprinted in the muscular structure of his arms and chest. Army fatigue pants were planted against the knotted muscles in his thighs, and he stood the same six feet, three inches as Luke. Jonathon brought his gaze from Derek to Luke.
“I consider you both family, and that will always be the case unless either of you fucks over our sisters.” Jonathon’s face hardened. “I mean that shit.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Derek said.
Jonathon glanced at Derek. “We know you have a thing for Eden, and she’s sensitive and the youngest. I’ll break your fucking neck, Clark if you think for one second about fucking her over. Jonathon brought his eyes back to Luke. “Same for you. Jasmine acts tough, but we all know she’s as soft as a marshmallow.”
“Don’t threaten me, Rose,” Luke said. “I take it as a personal insult for you to stand here and act like I would put a lifetime of our friendship on the line for a fucking fling with your sister. I should break your damn neck for being that damn dense. Then what?”
“Damn straight,” Derek said in the amen corner.
Jonathon glanced from Derek to Luke then over to his brothers. One by one, the Rose men cracked a smile.
“I told you Luke would swing first and ask questions later,” Jonas said. The Rose men laughed, causing Luke and Derek to glance between each other curiously.
“This shit isn’t funny,” Derek said. “I don’t appreciate being cornered like I’m some sucka off the street.”
“Pipe down, Clark,” Jonathon said. “We all know neither of you are stupid enough to hurt Eden and Jasmine. We STILL,” he spoke with emphasis, “had to let you know what’s up.”
Jonathon rounded the table and rolled up on Luke. Luke dropped his arms, and Jonathon held out his hand. Luke accepted it in a manly slap of palms. “All right, all right, you’ve made your point,” Luke said.
Jonathon nodded then looked over at Derek. “You see how easy that was?”
Derek leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.
“You need a hug, Clark,” Jonas said.
They snickered.
“Fuck you, Rose,” Derek spat.
They guffawed again, and one by one, Jonathon, Jaden, Jordan, and Jacob made their exit. When Luke and Derek were alone, they merely exchanged a shake of their heads.
“Comes with the territory,” Luke said. The door opened, and Jasmine came strutting into the room. She took in the unreadable expression on Luke’s face.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” his dark voice grooved. “What do you say we get out of here?”
“I’d say, let’s go.”
Luke turned back to Derek. “You okay?” he asked, noticing the grimace on Derek’s face.
“I’m fine.” Derek straightened then adjusted his tie slightly. “I’m heading out.”
Luke and Jasmine watched him leave.
She glanced over at Luke. “Is he okay?”
Luke rubbed his chin. Something was bothering Derek other than the confrontation that had just transpired, but Luke would find out what that was about at another time.
“He’s fine,” Luke answered, moving closer to Jasmine. He kissed the tip of her nose. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Nine
“I figured I’d save you the time of calling to catch me up by coming over here with a bottle of pinot grigio since this may take all night.”
Jasmine smirked at Carla and rolled her eyes. Stepping to the side, Jasmine opened the front door wider.
“I’m afraid I don’t have all night, but come on in,” Jasmine said.
Carla sashayed inside, her razor-sharp cut bob bouncing as she moved over the threshold. “Don’t mind if I do,” she said mid-twirl, donned in a gray silk blouse that stretched down her flat belly to tuck inside rustic denim jeans. On her feet, four-inch gray heels with diamond studs sat as the centerpiece of the thong shoe.
Jasmine closed the door behind her and strolled past Carla to the kitchen. Once there, Carla found a spot at the center island, perching on a stool that sat before it.
“So,” Carla began sweeping her h
air behind an ear, “what’s good?”
Jasmine removed two tumblers from the cabinet then turned to sit them on the island.
“Whatever do you mean, dear friend?” Jasmine said.
Carla pursed her lips and popped the cork. “Okay, I get it, you need a drink first. That’s fine with me.”
Jasmine smirked and tried to hold on to her giggle as Carla poured.
“Wait,” Jasmine said. “Did you get your ears pierced?”
Carla’s tongue slipped from her mouth and poked the corners of her lips. Her earlobe was pierced from the single puncture in her lobe to several that rode up her ear to the top. Jasmine leaned closer and counted.
“Three, four, five?” Jasmine said.
“Jacob loves them. Says they make me look feisty, like a dominatrix.”
“Oh brother,” Jasmine groaned.
“What, you don’t like them?”
“Please tell me you’re not changing your appearance because of my brother?”
Carla blinked rapidly. “I didn’t know he would like it until after I got it pierced, so that’s first. Secondly, don’t we all do that at some point? Whether it’s a hairstyle, a simple dress, or a tattoo? Once a guy we’re digging tells us they like it, we go out of our way to show off whatever that thing is. Why would piercings be so different?”
“Okay, a hairstyle sometimes, a dress maybe, but you can’t compare that to body adjustments.”
Carla scoffed. “You act like I got breast implants.”
They both quieted then burst out laughing.
“Who got breast implants?” Eden said as she entered the room.
Though she and Jasmine shared the same face, Eden’s hair was pinned to the top of her head and an array of curls sprouted down her head. Where Jasmine was a bit risqué with her evening wear, Eden was more reserved all the way down to her bed wear.
“First of all, please get rid of that gown,” Jasmine said. Her eyes were wide, and her lips fairly twisted as she took in the ankle-length cotton nightgown her sister wore.
“Jasmine, don’t start,” Eden said.
Carla shook her head.
“Don’t you start,” Jasmine responded. “I thought we talked about your fashion sense choices, sis. As a matter of fact, I remember the both of us going through your closet and getting rid of all of that grandma material in there. You’re twenty-six, not ninety-eight.”
Carla spurted out a laugh, and Eden cocked her head to the side with a scowl covering her face.
“I kept one or two, is that so bad? Everyone doesn’t need lingerie to sleep in. Besides if you hadn’t noticed, I don’t have a man!” Eden sulked to the counter, her hip leaning into the marble top.
Both Carla and Jasmine dropped their jokes instantly.
“What does that mean? Are you and Derek having problems?”
“There was barely a me and Derek to begin with, then today, he cut our conversation short, and I haven’t heard from him since.”
Jasmine gnawed the corner of her lips.
Eden cut her eyes at Jasmine then turned full circle.
“Do you know something I don’t?” Eden asked Jasmine.
Jasmine frowned, and her thoughts traveled back to the confrontation at Luke’s office.
“Shit,” Jasmine mumbled.
“You do know something, spill it!” Eden said, pushing off the counter to stand directly in front of Jasmine. Eden crossed her arms, and Carla poured herself a glass of wine feeling that whatever Jasmine would say might warrant it.
“I don’t really know.”
Carla took a huge swig of her wine, knowing that was not the answer Eden was looking for.
“Jasmine, I swear to God.”
“What makes you think I know something anyway?”
“Because you’re dating Luke now, and he’s putty in your hands!”
Jasmine went to protest, raising an arm and pointing her finger with her mouth agape. But she paused and arched a brow.
“He’s putty in my hands?” she said, blushing. “Why would you say that?”
Eden half-rolled her eyes. “Because anyone with vision can see it. He nearly burned a hole in your mouth kissing you on the doorstep the other night. Or did you forget I saw the two of you?”
“Hmm, that did kind of slip my mind.”
“Hold up,” Carla said. “So not only did you kiss on national television today, but you kissed last night on the doorstep? And where were you coming from, young lady?”
The smile on Carla’s face spread across her lips slow and seductively. Heat ballooned in Jasmine’s cheeks as her eyes skipped from Eden to Carla.
“I was leaving. We were on a date.”
“A date?” Carla echoed.
“Yes.”
“Unhuh, tell me more about this date.”
“First, tell me what you know about why Derek would all of a sudden be giving me the cold shoulder,” Eden interrupted.
Carla pushed the tumbler filled with wine across the island toward Jasmine. Catching her drift, Jasmine lifted the glass and took a hefty sip then sat the glass down.
“Okay—”
“Start from the beginning,” Eden added.
“From the beginning, beginning, or…”
Eden squinted her eyes at Jasmine, and her lips thinned.
Jasmine nodded. “Gotcha. Well, to try and make a long story shorter, after last night, I had a pow-wow with Phoebe on the track today. You know where you were supposed to meet us for our weekly run?”
Eden’s squint remained, but her mouth fluffed back into its pouty stance before she bit down on her bottom lip. Eden nodded once, and Jasmine continued.
“After that conversation, I knew I had to stop running from Luke.”
“Yeaaaaah!” Carla shouted. Jasmine and Eden looked at her with wide eyes. “Oh, never mind me, continue.”
Jasmine cracked a smile. “I went to his office and found him staring at the map on the wall like he’d already lost the race.”
Carla frowned. “Why would he think that?”
“Because Samuel Jenkins supposedly has his side of town on lock, and he had Betty Downer next to him agreeing that he may have lost.”
Carla’s frown deepened. She and Eden knew all too well that Sarah Middleton was the Betty Jasmine referred to.
“So, what happened?” Carla asked.
“In so many words, I told him that he would not give up now and that my team was waiting to hit the street and win that side of town for him. We left and went to Mr. Jenkins’ headquarters,” Jasmine paused, and a heated wave fled down her skin as thoughts of her and Luke’s erotic encounter in the car resurfaced. In a trance, Jasmine’s arms folded across her breasts and a hand lifted to her neck to trail her fingers in a dance across her skin. She bit her bottom lip, and her heartbeat instinctively increased as soft, but fierce pulls at her lips from Luke’s heated mouth reclaimed her.
“Jasmine!” Eden said, snapping her fingers.
Jasmine jumped out of her reverie and looked between Eden and Carla whose mouth was partly open in a gawking smile.
“Well,” Carla said, “what the hell was that?”
“What happened?” Jasmine said.
Carla snickered. “You tell me.”
Jasmine’s face was as hot as a volcanic eruption. She blinked several times then pulled it together.
“After we arrived, we met with Mr. Jenkins, and you saw that on TV, right?”
“I’ll tell you what I saw,” Eden said. “You and Luke locking lips as if you were hungry for each other.”
Carla nodded and poked her lips out and upward.
“I’ll tell you what I didn’t see,” Eden added. “Whatever happened that has to do with Derek and me.”
“You’re right,” Jasmine said. “Well, you’re not the only ones who saw us on TV.”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“When we got back to Luke’s office, our brothers were there.”
Eden’s eyes widened, and Ca
rla poured another round of wine, this time scooting a glass over to Eden.
“Derek was with them. Apparently, they’d gathered in Luke’s office to threaten Luke and Derek.”
A sharp gasp flew from Eden. “Are you kidding me!? Please tell me you’re joking!”
“Afraid not.”
Eden tossed her hands up and paced the length of the kitchen, her house shoes wish washing across the tile.
“I can’t believe this! No wonder he won’t talk to me.”
“What did he say?” Jasmine asked.
“What did they say?!” Eden deferred. “Tell me, I want to know every word.”
“I wasn’t inside the office. I only know what Luke told me, and trust me, I was annoyed, too, but Luke just kept saying it comes with the territory.” Jasmine paused. “He’s right.”
Eden scoffed.
“You knew there would come a time when this would happen, right? I mean, we’ve all talked about it,” Jasmine continued.
“That doesn’t mean I have to like it!”
Jasmine nodded and lifted the tumbler from the island. She handed it over to Eden.
“You know I don’t drink anymore.”
Jasmine grabbed Eden’s hand and pasted her fingers around the tumbler. Eden tossed the alcohol back in one long chugging gulp. Both Jasmine and Carla’s eyes widened.
“Damn,” Carla said.
“I didn’t mean for you to drink it all in one gulp, girl,” Jasmine said.
Eden pursed her lips. “Who am I kidding. I need to be drunk.”
“Did Derek say anything to you?”
“Yeah, he asked me how my day was, and I told him it was fine, then I did the same. He quieted down when I asked, and when I inquired about it, he came out with ‘I need a little time to process some things, so if I don’t call you for a couple of days, I want you to know it has nothing to do with you.” She shook her head and took another swig of the nothingness left in the glass. “My heart dropped, I didn’t know how to respond, and our call just ended.”
Jasmine glanced at Carla, then down at her wristwatch.
“Well, give him some time, and when you talk to him again have a conversation about it.”
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